Holme Moss long Sweet Spot workout this AM, all looking a feeling very good.
16’C ambient at 0500am and sweating ‘buckets’ even with the fan on, drinking 750ml over the duration of the workout.
Dollar Law was in my calendar tonight. I don’t know if I have finally worn out the BoAs on my shoes after 6 or 7 years, the left one seemed to be coming lose. I got new shoes to replace them nearly two years ago but the ones I am using are just so damm comfy The net result of a lose BoA my cadence was pretty low.
Edit: This is the Dollar Law that I know Dollar Law - Wikipedia
There’s nothing like post-vacation recovery gains:
Came back from two weeks in Colorado doing nothing but drinking beer and going on a couple of 100 yard hikes. Came back and had lost about 15% of FTP. A week and half back in the saddle and I’m trying to convince AT to give me some real work…
Dicks -1. debating doing this inside with it being over 90*. Got home, Bike was ready for outside and I thought it didn’t feel to bad out. First 2 intervals were great, 3rd things started to get warm, 4th one I popped at the end and couldn’t hold target power the last 90 seconds. made a few futile attempts at the 5th interval. Lesson Learned, should have done it inside.
Probably only the 2nd or 3rd workout I ever failed, but just couldn’t do the last set. Maybe it’s because of my 2nd Pfizer shot I got Monday (although my Z2 ride yesterday felt fine), maybe a bit of a heat issue (should really get a 2nd vacmaster) but I’m positive I could have finished it without those 150%, 15s spikes. Still got a good amount of work done so I’m not that disappointed.
Lazy Mountain was in my calendar tonight and I took it to the virtual world and dropped the feedback to 33% so I could spin up the virtual hills
Big thumbs up for the “Train now” feature. I felt like garbage this morning and had a threshold workout scheduled. I was dreading it, so instead I hit Train now, just to see what it would throw at me - and it suggested Lazy Mountain. Hell yea for Lazy Mountain! I needed a day of recovery…
Worked up to a few set of 200lbs again. Then some bench presses and core work.
Headed to the beach this weekend for vacation and a week of riding without a power meter. Of course we’ll be sampling the local food and drinks. Hopefully the weight won’t fluctuate too much!
Endurance with a half-a$$ attempt at a ramp test
I recently got back from an eight-day business trip where I could only ride for three days - one was on a Peleton and two were on spin bikes with no sense at all of power, and none of the rides had direct cooling.
Even though this week is a recovery week between SSB and SusPB, I’m feeling really sluggish and weak. I’m fairly certain my FTP has been dropping since my A event at the beginning of June and I suspect I’m down 20 watts, but need to test before starting SusPB on Tuesday, hence the Ramp Test this morning. My heart wasn’t in it, though, so I pulled the plug early (53 watt drop, which I know is too much). Guess I’ll have to try again this weekend.
Last workout of SSB2 before recovery week. Felt I had gained some again, so tried to see if I could do the second 20 minutes at 102%. Judging by how the legs felt plus my heartrate, I’m pretty sure that 281w was more on threshold then the 275w. Really a feelgood workout this way.
Ramp Test & Carter
I completed the ramp test this morning and dropped 30 watts. I was expecting a decrease, but was hoping it was in the 15-20 watt range, not 30. At least my zones will be right for SusPB, which I start on Tuesday.
A couple of lessons learned.
- Bring my bike on long business trips whenever possible. While not convenient, in hindsight, I could have done it and gotten several high quality rides in.
- Mid-season base phase should include some high end VO2 and threshold work. Seems like I lost all of it and then some from the base/build/specialty phase I completed leading into my A event in early June.
That sprint tri race from Wednesday. Raced the same course last month. This month dropped 2 minutes on the swim and similar splits on the bike and run. However, the bike also had 3 places which required unexpected braking and coasting. First was at a turnaround where earlier riders knocked cones off the road causing a mess with no line to follow at the turn. Second was before the 700W spike, had to slow roll past emergency vehicles where a rider crashed closing 1.75 lanes of the 2 lane park road. Third was final park road turn where a firetruck was turning toward the crash but a volunteer flagged me to almost stop while the vehicle turned. I’m thinking all of this added to maybe 1:00-1:30 lost time. Racing this again the end of August so I can check for progressions!
Took Thursday off then Mokelumne last night before a easy run. Haven’t had a training ride like this in a while. Felt weird to simply cruise along with HR barely budging. Glad I added this workout with the sprints just to mix things up.
Threshold day again today. Dutton. Crushed it.
Made the mistake of chasing someone in zwift towards the end of the second interval. Bumped up the intensity to 105% and barely missed them. That third interval felt way harder than it should have as a result. Swear my legs just felt like stone.
Endurance tomorrow! Hooray
I’ve been doing Train Now instead of following a plan. I love it but today it totally gaslighted me! I did the recommended VO2 workout. Then after all that suffering, it was like “why did you do that one? It’s not recommended!” Lol
As if I would choose to do that one on my own!
Ainslie -4 was in my calendar today but it was a nice night so I took it outside and to keep it interesting when I finished I did another few intervals.
Fail. 16 point drop. Lots of reasons I can think this happened: warmer than normal in basement, ate a meal less than 2 hours before the Ramp Test, a little tired, mentally dreading test days, and lack of consistency training leading up to today. And I may have lowered my saddle substantially just before.
So, time to get back on the wagon. This is the start of a Build block. Thursday is a planned 1.0 Endurance ride so I’m thinking about retesting then. Or a following week on Monday rest day or Thursday easy endurance day. Also, will turn on the AC a few hours before to cool things to normal, no meals 3 hours before but pop a gel 15 minutes prior, and try to get some good sleep. Still don’t think I’ll be ready mentally and training consistency won’t have an impact this soon.
Disappointed in myself, for sure.
Carpathian Peak - I’ve been feeling a bit down about my progression lately. Just feel a bit run down from home schooling the kids in lockdown while trying to work. Struggling to fit in the workouts.
Then today I completed Carpathian Peak which I haven’t done since February. Afterwards I compared the two workouts and found that even though it felt much the same, I managed a 6% increase in NP and also had a slightly lower average and max. HR than back in Feb. Strava also notes the “relative effort” score as being lower so I guess I’ve been doing more work recently too.
Hooray for small gains!
I know the feeling. My last ramp test was a 6 point drop on my previous one after doing 6 weeks of SSB. However, when I set the original FTP the thought of actually holding that power for an hour was laughable whereas now I feel like I could do it and have successfully completed 60 mins of over-unders in workouts like Leconte. So I know my fitness has improved.
I guess my point it that while it SUCKS not to reach your previous FTP in a ramp test, its definitely not the whole picture. You might not have raised your FTP but you may well be stronger within your FTP.
I know the feeling, too! I’m sorry. I had a big drop this spring and have not tested since. It is a bummer. But I really believe that the fitness comes back. Yesterday I started bumping up my FTP a little because I can tell by RPE and heart rate that I have it set too low but I still don’t want to take another ramp test.
And I totally love this:
Sage advice.
Don’t be - sh*t happens.
Are you on the AT beta? If so then it should allow you to effectively level back up as and when you do your first few workouts at the new FTP - if it turns out it was an under-read (for all the reasons you’ve noted) of your actual FTP then when you report back on how hard / easy the sessions are then the system should adapt